


It's Not Oregano

by Leif Writes (FrankensteinsMomster)



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Fluff and Humor, Love Confessions, M/M, Malcolm Bright eats actual food (and a lot of candy), Marijuana, The boys get high, They're awkward messes, dumb weed jokes, teen Maljay & adult Maljay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-24 04:35:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30066762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrankensteinsMomster/pseuds/Leif%20Writes
Summary: "Is thatweed?""No it's oregano- Yes it's weed!" He rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically. "I worry about you sometimes Whitly."
Relationships: Malcolm Bright/Vijay Chandasara
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	It's Not Oregano

**Author's Note:**

> I had this silly idea in my head and just ran with it. The fluff and feelings happened on accident but I'm not complaining.

Malcolm wasn't entirely sure how he had been talked into this whole situation but he had the feeling that it had to do with his inability to say no to his friend when he stood too close to him and fluttered his long, dark lashes at him. It was entirely unfair. Here he was, just the same, spending a weekend alone with him. 

"Explain to me why we're hiding out in your old treehouse when we literally have free reign of your entire house?"

His mother thought he was staying on campus to study and Vijay's mother and sisters were spending the long weekend at a wellness resort. They were alone. Together. And he was trying very hard to not look too into it. If Vijay had some sort of alternative motives to spending time alone with him then he would let him initiate it. 

"Patience, my young Padawan," Vijay replied, digging through an old toy box in the corner. It was less of a treehouse and more of a playhouse suspended among the trees. He was a bit in awe of it if he was, to be honest. It was big enough for them as teenage boys to comfortably lounge around in but he could tell it was out of use and a little dusty around the edges. 

"Found it!" Vijay finally turned back to him and wagged his brows at him. In his hand was a small bag filled with-

"Is that _weed_?" 

"No it's oregano- Yes it's weed!" He rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically. "I worry about you sometimes Whitly." 

He glared at Vijay before the boy flopped onto the couch next to him. 

"So we're in here so you can smoke weed?"

"No, we're in here so _we_ can smoke weed." 

He stared at his friend. Sure, he'd talked about his interest in trying it but he didn't think anything would actually come of it. Gabrielle had actually recommended THC to his mother as a way to increase his appetite but she had been adamantly opposed to it. 

"Where did you even get it from," he snatched the bag from Vijay's hand to take a closer look at it. 

"Ishita's boyfriend." 

"I thought your sisters weren't allowed to date?"

Vijay snatched the bag back from him. 

"They're not, hence the weed." 

Malcolm was silent. Mentally weighing the pros and cons of what he was about to do. Obviously his mother would hate it. His father, well it didn't rightly matter what his father thought. It was Gil that worried him. He'd never heard the man outright speak against smoking weed but he'd seen him arrest enough assholes high as balls while on ride alongs to have an idea of how he felt about it. He chewed his lip nervously. 

"Alright. Let's do it." He was determined. He sat up straight and shook out the anxious tension building in his shoulders. He wasn't going to let his overthinking talk himself out of it. 

"Mal, babe, it's weed. Not crack. Take it down a few notches." 

He was more than a bit surprised at the ease with which his friend prepared the joint. He'd have to ask him about it later. Soon he had it precariously held in his lips and pulled an old lighter out of his pocket to light up. It was his dad's and one of his most prized possessions. Malcolm had seen his usual cheerful, passive friend punch someone in the face for knocking it out of his hand while he absent-mindedly flicked it on and off. 

Vijay took the first drag, coughing as he passed it to Malcolm. He held it awkwardly and put it to his lips. He had never smoked anything, let alone weed, and felt utterly ridiculous. 

“Hey, you know you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.” Vijay squeezed his shoulder, his face soft, eyebrows scrunched. 

He took a deep drag, coughing for an embarrassing amount of time. Without saying anything Vijay took the blunt from him and scooted closer and slowly showed him what to do. He tried again. The smoke burned his eyes and somewhere deep in the back of his mind he could hear his father's voice of disapproval. It only made him more determined to get the hang of it. 

It took some time but they weren't in a rush. They sat leaned against the wall talking about video games and anime and what they were going to watch first when they went back inside. 

“So, how do you feel?”

He closed his eyes. After getting the hang of it he was feeling more confident about not looking like an idiot. He felt different. Not mind-blowingly different but definitely calmer. Relaxed. The buzzing in his head felt dulled but there was something else there too. Something in his stomach gnawing at him.

“Hungry. Like, really hungry.” 

Vijay fist pumped into the air, obviously proud of himself. 

"Hell yeah you are and I came prepared!" He grabbed the backpack he had brought up with him and dumped the contents onto the floor in front of them. Ding dongs and twinkies and skittles and licorice and one huge bag of hot Cheetos fell from it and Malcolm knew it wouldn't be enough to fill the cavernous feeling in his gut but it was a good start. 

They took turns alternating between smoking and scarfing down a disgusting amount of junk food. Malcolm took a careful bite of a twinkie. He'd never had one before. By the time he was on his fourth he was fairly certain he never wanted to eat anything else ever again. 

Vijay was laying down, head in Malcolm's lap. He was trying very hard not to stare down into his very pretty eyes or stare at his soft lips but he kept on talking to him and feeding him licorice and giggling about something. It was all very distracting. 

"What are you even talking about?" 

Vijay snickered like there was some hilarious secret that only he was privy to. It was even harder not to kiss him with that smile on his face. 

"I think your eyes are pretty too." He said reaching up and brushing Malcolm’s cheek. 

His body froze and he had a terrible realization. 

"Oh fuck, how long have I been-"

"You've been monologuing for the past five minutes baby boy." 

Malcolm stood up quick, Vijay unceremoniously falling out of his lap and onto the floor. 

"Fuck I'm sorry. I-" he leaned down offering his friend a hand. Vijay took it and pulled him down, falling on top of him. He fumbled to move but kept on slipping into more and more precarious positions. He wasn't sure he could possibly blush any harder. 

"Goddammit, Whitly will you stay still?" Vijay grabbed him by the hips and he felt desire jolt through him. _This is not the time._

"I mean, actually yeah this is the time." 

"Oh My God, I'm still doing it?" This was terrible. This was the worst. He was never smoking weed again. 

"Bit of an overreaction I think. But seriously, just listen to me for a second before you try to run off again. Please." 

Malcolm groaned but didn't move. 

"Okay. Good, good. We've been friends for a while, yeah?" 

"Yeah." He shut his eyes and hoped that this was all some sort of weird dream. 

"And in that time have you ever seen me flirt with anyone?" 

"Everyone. You flirt with everyone. Even Mr. Wood." 

His friend rolled his eyes at him and huffed. 

"That's different. That's just messing around. And Mr. Wood is a silver fox, you can't blame me for that one." 

He had to agree. The man was ridiculously attractive for being an AP U.S. History teacher. 

"That's not the point. Damn it I should've done this before we smoked but no, I had to be a wimp and try and show off and now this is going all wrong." 

He hated seeing his friend like this. Upset with himself. All the embarrassment he'd felt drifted away. Vijay let go of him and covered his face with his hands like it would help him hide from the word. He laid at his side before giving in to the voice in his head and rested his head on Vijay's chest. 

He was warm and comfy and he was very content to stay there for as long as he would be allowed to. 

"What I'm trying to say is that I like you, Malcolm. Like, really like you." 

"I like you too." He closed his eyes and snuggled closer to him. 

"No, you don't get it. I _like you._ I want to kiss you, and hold your hand, and take you out on stupid dates." 

"Oh." He replied, his eyes opening. " _Oh!_ But why?" 

"Because you're my best friend, and you're hot and funny, and- fuck, can we talk about this when we're not high?"

Malcolm snorted laughing and soon they were both wiping tears from their eyes and clutching their sides to the ridiculousness of it all. When they finally stopped, Vijay lifted Malcolm’s head to his and they kissed for a very long time. 

…

**A good number of years later**

He was exhausted. He was always exhausted though so when Vijay text him asking if he could come over to _chill out_ he said yes. 

Vijay looked just as tired as he felt which did not bode well for the man. 

"Rough job?" He asked. 

"Rough but I got the job done and I'm still in one piece so I call it a win." 

Neither of them seemed to be in a particularly talkative mood so he turned some light jazz. 

"Malcolm Bright, are you trying to seduce me?" His lips quirked up in a small smile that Malcolm returned. 

"Of course not, this isn't my seducing music." 

"I'm afraid to ask what is." 

They sat together, Malcolm's head bobbing to the tune. It was nice to just be in each other's company. 

Vijay pulled something out of his pocket. It was familiar and still well kept, flicking on its second try. He pulled something else familiar out of his pocket. 

"Is that weed?" 

Vijay laughed, his smile wide. 

"That it is, that it is. Do you mind if I-" 

He shook his head. 

"Care to join me?" 

Malcolm scooted closer to him. It had been a while. A long while. He'd gone through more than his share of experimentation with stronger stuff in his later college years but had given up weed as a junior. He hadn’t been able to once he was at Quantico or during his time in the FBI. Now that he was freelance and didn’t have to worry about random drug testing though-

“Yeah, sure. Why not?”

“Atta boy,” Vijay patted his back, grin growing wider. He pulled a small pipe from his pocket, prepped it, and lit up, taking a deep drag before passing it to Malcolm. 

It was definitely stronger than what they'd shared before. Not that that was very surprising. They'd been kids and didn't exactly have access or control of the weed they were able to get their hands on. 

He felt himself relax, the noise of his brain fading to a pleasant hum. He looked over to Vijay, a small, soft smile on his face. 

"Hmm?" He questioned. 

"Nothing," he looked away, taking another toke and sighing, "just thinking about how pretty your eyes are." 

Malcolm burst out laughing.

"You're never going to let me live that down, are you?" 

"Fuck no, that was adorable." 

They giggled about old times, pointedly avoiding all of the less than pleasant memories. It felt good to get out of his own head for a while. He'd forgotten how much he'd enjoyed their time together like this. There was just one thing missing. 

"Ah, fuck." He groaned, a hand dramatically thrown across his face. 

"Hm?" Vijay was sprawled out, laying on his back with his feet in Malcolm's lap. "What's up?" 

"Food! How could I forget the food? When was the last time I ate? I think I have some sparkling water and half a container of Twizzlers in the cupboard." 

He got up and started his search around the kitchen. 

"I feel like I should be concerned about how much liquor you have versus the amount of food you have but I just- no that's too much thinking right now. Isn't there a bodega around the corner? Or we can order something?"

“There’s a Chinese food place around the corner but-” he sighed, sadly, “They won’t take my order anymore.”

“I’m not even going to ask.” Vijay groaned as he got up from the couch. “You have any clothes I can borrow?”

He went to his closet, flicking through suits, suits, and more suits before settling on a dark green henley, a worn grey hoodie, and some grey sweat pants before tossing them to Vijay.

“My hoodie! I was wondering where I left that.” 

Malcolm blushed, he’d forgotten it hadn’t belonged to him. It had been one of the first times they hung out after their unplanned reunion. It felt like a date even though he knew it wasn’t one. Just two friends getting a drink and taking a stroll around the park. He wanted to show Vijay that yes, he did own things other than suits after some teasing the last time they’d been together but it ended poorly when the chill of the night air made him shiver. Without saying anything or asking Vijay had taken off his hoodie and put it around Malcolm. He kept on meaning to return it but somehow seemed to slip his mind every time they were together. It had nothing to do with the fact that it smelled like him even after being washed or that he loved how wearing it felt like being wrapped in one of his hugs.

Vijay’s laughing brought him to the present.

He had changed (Malcolm was a bit disappointed he hadn’t been paying enough attention to sneakily ogle) and there was one thing that neither of them had thought of when he’d given him the spare pair of clothes. Their height difference. Technically everything fit but the sweatpants fit like high waters and the shirt was like a crop top. The laughter bubbled out of Malcolm and soon he was wiping tears from the corner of his eyes.

“Fuck it,” Vijay threw on the hoodie and zipped it partially up, “it’s good enough.” 

He decided to change his own clothes into something more casual as well and threw on a nearly identical version of what he’d lent his friend. Every time he thought he’d finally gotten over the giggling he’d look over to Vijay and a new round of laughter would start all over again. 

The walk to the bodega was short, just a few minutes, but about halfway through their journey, he had a terrible revelation. 

“Weed is illegal.” he grabbed his friend’s arm. “This was a bad idea. We can just go back home and order something.”

“Bright, it’s one in the morning and I didn’t actually bring the weed with me. The cops can’t fine us for walking around high.”

“The cops! Ohmygod Gil is going to be so mad at me.” He stopped in place looking stunned.

“Hey, hey, look at me. Deep breaths.”

Malcolm breathed in and concentrated on his friend’s face. It was a very pretty face. 

“First of all,” Vijay smacked the back of his head. “ _Chill._ Your daddy’s not gonna find out that we’ve been smoking weed. And second of all-” he trailed off, deep in thought.

“Second?” Malcolm asked.

“Second of all, eye on the prize.” Vijay squeezed his shoulders and pointed at the bodega only a half a block away. 

“Right. Eye on the prize. Chill. I can do that.”

Vijay snorted and they made their way to the shop. 

The bell on the door jingled and he jumped. Vijay grabbed his arm and mouthed the word _chill_ at him, making eyes over to the tired-looking man behind the counter. He nodded a bit too fast and had to steady himself before following his friend to the snack aisle. The smell of nag champa incense tickled his nose.

The bodega was small but had an impressive array of chips and candy. Vijay already had a family-sized bag of sour cream and onion lays and a twist-tied bag of prawn chips. He grabbed a bag of skittles and a box of ding dongs before explaining to Vijay that they weren’t the same since they changed the packaging a few years back but they were still pretty good. 

“Oooh, I want an egg sandwich. Bright, you wanna egg sandwich?”

He thought about it. Egg and cheese on a toasted bun _did_ sound really good. He looked down at his armful of treasures forlornly. If he filled up on candy he wouldn't be able to have the sandwich and if he had the sandwich he wouldn't be able to eat all the candy. 

Vijay put an understanding hand on his shoulder, dropping half the contents of his arms in the process. He looked down at the mess and caught sight of Vijay's bare calves and started giggling all over again. 

The man behind the counter sighed loudly. 

"Hey, my man, could we get a couple of egg sammies?” Vijay winked at the man behind the counter, plopping his other snacks in front of the register. Malcolm stood behind him, carefully looking through a buzzing refrigerator to see if they sold his favorite brand of lemonade and sighing sadly when he saw they didn’t. 

“Mal, babe, toss your stuff up here, I’m buying.”

“You don’t- I can pay for my stuff.”

“What type of guy lets his date pay for his-” he peered at the jumble of treats of his arms, “stuff. Whatever it is.”

He rolled his eyes and piled his things onto the counter. The man was now stoically lighting up an old flat top griddle, cut two large buns, slathered them with mayo, and tossed them onto the pan. The smell made his stomach growl. It felt like an eternity waiting for the sandwiches to be ready to go and his mouth was watering by the time they were done. Vijay had opened the bag of prawn chips and was eating them by the handful, he smacked him on the shoulder and told him to wait till they paid but it only made him stick an even larger handful in his mouth.

He felt something rub against his ankle. 

“Oh my god, It’s a cat! Vijay!” he tugged on his arm and pointed to the very fluffy, very round, and very much ignoring him creature a few feet from him. “Look at his little paws!”

His friend rolled his eyes at him this time. 

“Yes, he’s very cute. Now let’s get out of here before you have an allergic reaction.” 

They paid and left, only making it a few feet out the door when Vijay plopped himself onto the sidewalk and started to unwrap his sandwich. The grease already dripping through its wrapper. Malcolm grimaced before sitting carefully beside him. As gross as the sidewalk was he really didn’t want to wait any longer than he had to eat. 

He had egg running down his chin and his hands were greasy but his stomach had never been happier. He knew that later he’d regret his food choices but for now he was enjoying the pure delight of a greasy two-am egg sandwich with his best friend. He was licking grease from his fingers when it finally hit him. 

“Wait, did you say we were on a date?”

“Hm?” Vijay was drinking straight out of a two-liter bottle of generic cola. 

“When you were talking you said something about not letting your date pay.”

“Did I?”

They silently stared at each other. 

“Are we on a date?” He finally asked.

“Do you want it to be a date?”

He stared at his friend a bit longer. This had been the most fun and the most relaxed he’d been in a very long while and while the weed did help it wasn’t the only thing. 

“Yeah. I think I do.”

“Good,” Vijay put his arm around him and kissed the top of his head. 

They walked back, only stopping when the skittle Vijay had attempted to catch in his mouth lodged itself in his throat. 

He wasn’t sure how they ended up snuggling on his bed. It just felt like the right thing to do. It felt good to be wrapped up in his arms. Soon he felt his eyelids heavy and moved to sit up.

"'s okay babe, you can sleep." 

"I don't want to hurt you." 

Vijay pushed a few strands out of his face and kissed his forehead. 

"It's okay if you do. I know you don't mean to do it. Plus if you punch me I'll just punch you back." 

He laughed and his face hurt from smiling. He closed his eyes, breathing deep and even, feeling safe and warm.

Together they slept. 


End file.
